Placeholder Text

Updated 

Placeholder Text simplifies the creation of personalized surveys by enabling you to insert dynamic information, such as previous responses, metadata, or contact details, directly into question titles. This allows survey questions to be context-aware and more engaging for respondents. By reflecting relevant details in real time, Placeholder Text enhances the overall survey experience and encourages higher-quality feedback. It’s especially valuable for Customer Experience professionals crafting tailored customer feedback surveys, designers adapting questions based on earlier answers, and teams seeking richer insights without complicating the survey-building process.

Business Use Cases

  • Boosting Survey Engagement with Personalized Questions: Personalizing survey questions with contextual details can significantly improve response rates and data quality. By using features like Placeholder Text in Sprinklr CFM, teams can dynamically insert relevant information, such as travel routes, seat classes, or booking channels, directly into survey questions.

    For example, instead of a broad question like “How was your experience?”, a more tailored version might ask, “How was your experience flying Economy from JFK to LAX?” This level of personalization helps respondents feel recognized, making them more likely to engage and provide meaningful feedback.

  • Driving Deeper Insights with Member-Specific Surveys: Adding personalized context to survey questions helps uncover more meaningful insights, especially in targeted programs.

    For example, in a quarterly relationship survey for Premium tier members, teams can use Placeholder Text in Sprinklr CFM to embed member-specific details, such as loyalty tenure, average spend, or most recent interaction channel, directly into questions. This approach enables a clearer understanding of how perceptions vary between long-standing and newer members, helping teams fine-tune loyalty strategies and deliver more relevant benefits.

Utilizing placeholder text to customize survey questions with information specific to customers or members enhances engagement and yields more precise insights. By ensuring that surveys resonate more closely with each respondent's individual experience, whether based on recent interactions, purchasing history, or details from loyalty programs, teams can gather richer, contextually relevant feedback. This approach facilitates better-informed decision-making and the creation of strategies that genuinely align with customer needs and expectations.

Prerequisites

Access to this module requires the Program Level View, Edit, and Delete permissions, which are available under the CFM App under roles:

  • View: This permission gives you access to view the Programs.

  • Edit:This permission gives you access to edit Programs.

  • Delete: This permission gives you access to delete Programs.

Setting Up Placeholder Text

  1. Go to Builder and navigate to Survey Question Type.

  2. Click Placeholders option to add placeholder text.

  3. Click Question Title to access the right menu of the question.

  4. Select {} Placeholders text option.

  5. Select the desired Placeholder Type from the dropdown menu.

  6. Insert Placeholder Text into the question title by selecting the appropriate placeholder type.

    Note: You can add multiple Placeholder Texts inside a single question.

  7. In the survey builder, the added Placeholder Text is highlighted in blue to differentiate it from the other question titles.

  8. Once the Placeholder text is added you can publish the Survey and create Distribution (you can use Anonymous Links for convenience).

  9. You can open the survey using the test link to verify that the placeholder text is displaying correctly.

How to use it?

  • Add placeholder text to the question title by choosing the correct type of placeholder.

  • Distribute the survey.

  • Establish a test distribution (you may utilize Anonymous Links for ease).

  • Access the survey through the test link to verify whether the Placeholder Text is being filled in.

Types of Supported Placeholder Text Types

Let us have a look at the types of placeholder texts:

Placeholder Text

Placeholder Text Options

Behavior

Caveat on Usage

Scenarios

Survey Question Response

Question responses for the following question types can be added as Placeholder Text:

1.)Multiple Choice 2.)Questions 

3.)Text Field 

4.)NPS Rating

5.)CSAT Rating 

6.)Slider

7.)Rating Scale

1.)A Survey Question Placeholder Text appears as its question number in the builder (Example: Q2 )

2.)If the piped survey question does not receive a response, the corresponding Placeholder Text will not populate and will appear as its question number.

1.)Only questions present in previous pages can be added as Survey Question Placeholder Text. 

2.)Survey Question Placeholder Text cannot be added in the first page of a survey.

3.)For Multiple Choice Questions, the placeholder text will only populate if the question receives a single response. In case multiple responses are received (in case of multi-select), the placeholder will not populate and will appear as its question number.

1.)Pipe a customer’s selected used products into a rank order follow-up question. 

2.)Include satisfaction ratings from previous questions in subsequent queries."

Survey Metadata

The following data received from the respondent’s device can be added as placeholder text:

1.)Browser Name

2.)Browser Version

3.)Operating System 

4.)Device Type 

5.)Screen Resolution

1.)Placeholder appears as its own name in the survey builder. (Example: Browser Name )

2.)If no data is received from the respondent’s device, the Placeholder appears as its own name in the survey, but without the blue highlights. (Example: Browser Name )

1.)Requires metadata collection to populate. Some respondents may block metadata sharing.

1.)Tailor questions based on the device type (e.g., mobile users vs. desktop users). 

2.)Include browser version for technical support surveys."

Contact Fields

The following data pulled from a Profile Custom Field can be added as placeholder text:

1.)Contact Number

2.)Email Address 

3.)First Name 

4.)Last Name

1.)Placeholder appears as its own name in the survey builder. (Example: First Name )

2.)If no data is received from the respondent, the Placeholder appears as its own name in the survey, but without the blue highlights. (Example: First Name )

1.)Requires respondent data to be preloaded or fetched from the associated Profile Custom Field. If the Profile Custom Field is not filled, the placeholder text will not populate.

1.)Personalize a greeting by including the respondent's name. 

2.)Verify email addresses in survey responses.

Profile Custom Fields

1.)Other Profile Custom Fields apart from Contact Fields can also be added as placeholder text. Use the search bar to find your appropriate custom field and select it as Placeholder Text.

1.)Placeholder appears as its own name in the survey builder. (Example: First Name )

2.)If no data is received from the respondent, the Placeholder appears as its own name in the survey, but without the blue highlights. (Example: First Name )

1.)Requires respondent data to be preloaded or fetched from the associated Profile Custom Field. If the Profile Custom Field is not filled, the placeholder text will not populate.

1.)Include membership tier or loyalty program information in the survey title. 

2.)Reference customer-specific details like region or preferred store.

Response Custom Fields

Response Custom Fields can also be added as placeholder text. Use the search bar to find your appropriate custom field and select it as Placeholder Text.

1.)Placeholder appears as its own name in the survey builder. (Example: First Name )

2.)If no data is received from the respondent, the Placeholder appears as its own name in the survey, but without the blue highlights. (Example: First Name )

1.)Requires respondent data to be preloaded or fetched from the associated Response Custom Field. If the Profile Custom Field is not filled, the placeholder text will not populate

1.)Tag responses with specific campaign names for analysis. 

2.)Include distribution identifiers for tracking purposes.

Response Date

The time and date at which the survey link is opened can also be added as placeholder text. The following options exist:

1.)Date (e.g., DD-MM-YYYY, MM-DD-YYYY, etc.) 

2.)Day of the Week

3.)Month 

4.)Year 

5.)Time (24-hour or 12-hour format)

1.)Placeholder appears as its own name in the survey builder. (Example: DD-MM-YYYY )

2.)If no data is received from the respondent, the Placeholder appears as its own name in the survey, but without the blue highlights. (Example: DD-MM-YYYY )

1.)Requires metadata collection to populate. Some respondents may block metadata sharing.

1.)Add the response date to survey headers for chronological context. 

2.)Customize questions based on the day or time of completion.

Key points to note

Note:

  • Placeholder Text can only be added to Question Titles and the headers of Special Pages.

  • For Survey Question Placeholder Text:

    • Placeholder Text cannot be added to any question on the first page of the survey.

    • Only questions from earlier pages may be utilized as placeholders; questions from the current page or subsequent pages are not permitted.

    • Multiple Choice Question Placeholder Text will populate only if a single response is received.

  • While viewing a survey in a conversational mode, only the following Placeholder Text types will populate:

    • Survey Question Response

    • Survey Metadata

    • Response Date

  • At present, assistance for Placeholder Text is exclusively offered in these locations:

    • Standard Surveys

    • Conversational Surveys

    • Email Distribution

    • SMS Distribution


Best Practices

  • Ensure the placeholder text matches the survey’s overall tone and style for a consistent and user-friendly experience.

  • Mark the piped question as required inorder to ensure that the placeholder populates as expected.

  • For the placeholder text in Multiple Choice Questions, it is advisable to configure the question as single-select, as the placeholder text will not appear if multiple answers are chosen.

  • Use only essential placeholders to keep the survey clear and avoid overwhelming respondents.